A Sacrifice for Understanding.

Chapter 2

"What are you guys doing here?"

There was no doubt about it, his brown hair, his (slightly deeper) voice, he even possessed the same ocean blue eyes and tanned skin as their lost friend did.

Keith answered for the others, "We came here because of a distress signal we received. But now that we've found you, we can get back to our regular duties."

A grim smile spread across the young man's face as he replied, "Well, it's good to see you guys again."

Allura and Keith stayed to the side as the others all rushed over to Lance, embracing him with tears flowing down their cheeks. He let out a laugh, causing Allura to give him a glare, "Do you think this is a laughing matter? You should have been helping fight the war against Zarkon, but instead vanished. We all thought you were dead. When we received the distress signal, I thought, 'maybe he might have matured', but I was foolish to believe that. In fact, I should have not even bothered coming here."

The paladins started at Allura in disbelief. Lance instead gave her an understanding smile. He bowed his head slightly, "I'm sorry if I caused any inconvenience to the mission."

"What's happened to you?" Pidge asked.

Lance looked at her confusion apparent on his face, "What do you mean?"

Pidge shook her head, "Forget it, I think I was overthinking things."

The paladins made their way back to the castle in silence. Lance began to notice the lack of something, no rather, someone's presence. They entered the lounge of the castle and Allura decided to break the silence, "Lance, since you've been gone, Shiro has gone missing as well. We are lucky that we received the distress signal when we did. Zarkon has begun to weaken, this is our time to strike! Voltron can now save the universe from Zarkon's evil grip!"